You have to put these hooks in it, you know? You've got to make sure you got all that ear candy in it to get it through the gate.

I used to be a serious sneaker addict, but I've moved on a little bit from those days.

Dave Guy, the trumpet player, is an incredible musician. He came into the studio one day, and they had just cut a cover of "Sign, Seal, Deliver" for something with Sharon Jones, and I just was blown away by how they got that sonic. I mean, it was just so much the real deal.

And then, also, when you're doing something that doesn't sound like anything else on the radio at the time, you almost need to, like, ironclad it to make sure it gets through, you know?

Then, you know, the other more-traditional role of the producer in, like, the kind of Quincy Jones sense is kind of part arranger. So you're coming up with, like, these - you hear these songs that are quite bare-bones, and you dream up what's the band doing? What's the rhythm section doing? What's the guitars, strings, pianos - that sort of thing. It's almost like a little toolbox.

You have to put these hooks in it, you know? You've got to make sure you got all that ear candy in it to get it through the gate.

Kids can make fun of you for having the wrong shoelaces: that's just kids. But I don't think I had any trouble making friends.